ex tenebris
by emberin
Summary: Tellius. From the darkness come the memories of love and loss. Pieces of events surface and fade. /v. patefactio: revelation - but time does not stop, and there is no going back. Elincia./
1. nuntius: messenger

nuntius: messenger

DISCLAIMER: Fire Emblem and its characters belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

* * *

She opened the wooden box, an antiquity from her days as a child that she had kept to store her life's treasures. Inside were a few precious items: the bowstring off her first bow, her favourite doll – oh, so few good memories from her youth, that time full of the constraints of her birth and her house.

But on top of it all was a single sheet of paper, slightly yellowed. She picked it up gingerly and turned it over:

_Meet me tonight at the fountain in the courtyard? I have something to tell you._

She still remembered the neat handwriting on the paper, the feeling of the hand that wrote it as it took her own hand, the hesitation in the writer's voice, the barely visible green eyes as the writer spoke to her those few simple words. The words that drove her to change her life from what it was originally fated to be.

She smiled softly. His voice still reached her, across the boundaries of time and space.

_I love you.

* * *

_

I know, it's so short! I've tried to move into the realm of drabble/near-drabble writing to challenge myself (and also because I really don't have time any more for my more ambitious projects… like my Oscar Crusade).

I really enjoyed writing this, though, so I'm making this a collection. Hope it grows. And please, correct my Latin. This is my third year studying it, but I'm prone to slip-ups.

(Love so sweet)

-EmbeRin


	2. memoria: memory

memoria: memory

DISCLAIMER: Fire Emblem and its characters belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

* * *

Do you remember the days when all we did was play in the fields, making daisy chains, throwing grass at each other?

Do you remember our idle dreams of being famous mercenaries to make our brothers proud?

Do you remember staying out at night and watching the stars twinkle? Weren't they beautiful?

Now the grass is covered with bodies and my arrows are stained with a stranger's blood.

We're no longer children.

Only the stars up in the sky, twinkling and shining, remain of our former innocence.

It's so pretty it makes you sad, right?

Doesn't it, Mist?

* * *

Tee hee. I'm back! And this is my first actual drabble. One hundred words. Har har. But I think I can only drabble in this kind of context…

(Beautiful days)

-EmbeRin


	3. lux aeterna: eternal light

lux aeterna: eternal light

DISCLAIMER: Fire Emblem and its characters belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

* * *

It was in the days that she spent with him that her life lit up.

Brash, cocky and a little stupid at times, the middle brother was definitely the most vibrant in comparison to his prudent, calm older brother and his slightly shy, sometimes insecure little brother. But to her, among them, he shone.

One fall day, the wind had swept her favourite scarf high up into a tree, and she had agonized over how to get it down until he decided that he would chop down the entire tree with his axe so that she could get it back. She hadn't thought he was serious until she returned to that spot a few hours later and saw him, fainted from exhaustion. Needless to say, she had to rescue him, but his smile when he regained consciousness was more than enough for her.

It was illuminating.

Of course, he insisted on getting the scarf. Finally, he went to Melior and asked Marcia to come back and fly up to get it. After a few days up in the air it was a little tattered and dirty, but after he gave it back to her she still immediately put it on.

Whenever she had this feeling, she felt the urge to tell him about this warm feeling that she felt, the light that she saw in him, but she was always afraid, afraid that taking one step off their thread of a relationship was something that was too risky, so that going forward was impossible.

-

He had made a trip with her to a nearby town for supplies. She had warned him to bring some sort of coat, as the winter season was approaching, but he only insisted that he was 'man enough to bear the cold'. Nevertheless, she brought a jacket for herself, as even she didn't think that the cold would be such a problem.

On the way back, a cold snap suddenly hit them. As she immediately slipped on her jacket, the cold snap died, but she could see that his teeth were chattering. She asked if he wanted the jacket, but he refused. It wasn't manly, he said, even though she insisted that manliness sometimes had to be sacrificed for the sake of being able to stay alive.

Then the snowstorm struck.

The two of them were stuck on the side of the road, one of them curled up near the ground, wrapping her jacket more tightly around her, the other jumping up and down like a maniac, too stubborn to accept the offer of part of the jacket's cover. But even huddled, she began to lose the feeling in her limbs, as she feared that they wouldn't make it out.

At that moment, he couldn't take it any more and flung himself on her, wrapping his arms around her tightly, trying to squeeze any warmth he could out of her. But though he was colder than she was, she suddenly felt warm. She wanted to take the chance and hug him back, chance that step, but she was unsure; what if he turned away from her? So she stayed huddled, only offering him some of her jacket.

The two of them stayed together until the snow subsided, which thankfully wasn't that much later. At that point, he had realized what he was doing and jumped away, looking slightly embarrassed, but they both knew that alone, they wouldn't have survived.

Still, with the exposure to the cold, he had fallen ill. And now his life was in her hands.

She had made the decision to be the main healer; she had begged Rhys to let her do this one thing even though he was much more experienced than she. This was her chance to finally embrace that light that she saw in him and turn it into an expression of herself. This was her chance, her step forward.

Her hands on her staff, she thought of the glittering days that she had passed with him, willing those glimmering memories into her staff, watching the blue crystal orb begin to pulsate with light. The light rippled over his body as she touched the tip of the staff onto his chest. She willed her warmth, her strength, her images of his brilliant persona into him, trying to bring him back.

She watched with anxiety as the light from her staff finally faded, her job done as best as she could. She touched his hand; it was still cold, but it had in its core a tiny bit of warmth.

He opened his eyes.

-

She was glad she had made that step – from that one step had grown an illuminated path, one that they could walk together, run down together, skip along together, a path that stretched until eternity. Her world had changed, and maybe his. It was a light that they could hold onto as they went down their path, a light that would never fade.

It was in the days that she spent with him that her life lit up.

* * *

Yes, it's longer than the others, but it's still under a thousand words, so it's all good. I hope it doesn't sound too contrived.

(Step and Go)

-EmbeRin


	4. iter: journey

iter: journey

DISCLAIMER: Fire Emblem and its characters belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

* * *

Ever since I was little, I knew that I was made for a challenge.

Have you ever had the feeling that youve been missing something in your life and that your purpose was to find it? Yeah, something like that. I couldn't figure out what it was back then, only that my life was incomplete and that this incomplete world wasn't what I wanted. So I left. All those lies I lived before, I ditched them.

I wandered around with my sword at my side, casually lending out my services as a mercenary, until one day, I rescued a wandering gypsy. She gave me a free reading, and although I didn't really believe in that sort of mumbo-jumbo, I listened to her words.

_"You have been seeking a challenge this whole time, yes? Someone to fulfill your search of true strength. You will find your challenger one day. He will be a white-robed figure riding on a horse to bring your challenge. This will be your ultimate test. Until then, I wish you luck._"

But this prophecy gave me hope. It gave me purpose. And so I started down the road towards nowhere, hoping to meet my challenger along the way.

For a while I entertained myself with the possibility of my challenger in Rhys. But I knew that this make-believe wasn't what I truly sought, even if I did feel the slightest attraction to him. I had to leave the fake happiness; even in peace, I sought the challenge.

So again, I left. Because I know that along that road towards nowhere that I follow, someone's calling me with that challenge, waiting for me to get to them. No matter where the path may stop at, whether I laugh or cry, I will move on to that final challenge.

I'll yell out for it until my voice goes hoarse, but I'll still move on.

* * *

I'm sorry! I'm still alive!

There are a lot of people and stories I haven't been keeping up with over the last two months. For that, I really want to apologize – my life hasn't been allowing me to keep up. I will try and get back to you as soon as possible, but this is my peace offering that I wrote a while back. Hopefully I will see some of you soon.

(Believe)

-EmbeRin


	5. patefactio: revelation

patefactio: revelation

DISCLAIMER: Fire Emblem and its characters belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

* * *

It is an inevitable sadness that passes her face.

Everyone sees it, though she tries to hide it. After all, she is a queen. People have many more problems than fortunate she, and she has to be strong for them. She has to guide her country through its times of hardship. That is what fate cast her when she was born, and although she didn't think it would end up like it has, she must accept it.

She knows that what she dreams, it isn't going to happen, though she always has a small flickering hope. Yet the hope does nothing to shake off reality. She wants to let out how she feels, but the queen cannot cry.

With him, time seems to stop - meeting him for the first time as she fled from her home, his strong features reassuring her - running through the woods, flushed and happy - walking through the town, picking supplies together - conquering the throne and walking out hand in hand

- but time does not stop, and there is no going back.

She cannot shape her destiny, she is queen. And any fantasy of running away is only overturned by her sense of duty. Yet she also cannot force his own world to change into the court where he cannot belong.

She cannot see into his heart, she cannot see into the future and change it. She can only walk the path she was fated to, her innocent dreams unable to realize.

This is her inevitable sadness.

* * *

It's kind of cliché, but I seem to enjoy angsting away. It's pathetic, actually…

On another note, to all those people I usually keep up with, I'm starting to get back to all your stuff at last. So hang in there a little longer!

(truth)

-EmbeRin


End file.
